World Media Watch for July 17, 2002

BUZZFLASH NOTE: Once again, these are the views and perspectives of the individual papers, not of BuzzFlash or Gloria. They offer BuzzFlash readers a way of reading what other nations are saying about the crisis, whether we like it or not. We repeat: This is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.

* * *

1//The Independent, UK--BLAIR FACES COMMONS WATCHDOGS FOR FIRST TIME (Tony Blair today broke a long-standing convention that Prime Ministers refuse to appear before the MPs watchdog committees by facing questions from committee chairmen... He denied he had smuggled in a White House presidential-style of government, but admitted that ministers were too tempted during Labour's first administration to believe that "the announcement is the reality" rather than focusing on delivery.)

2//The Asahi Shimbun, Japan--EDITORIAL: CALMING INVESTOR JITTERS (Do Bush and his team have the nerve to clean up the mess even if they are soiled in the process? The market seems doubtful...)

3//The Pioneer, India--US DRAWS ITS LoC ON PRESSURING PAKISTAN (The United States feels that infiltration across the Line of Control (LoC) is "down significantly." India, however, insists Pakistan is yet to deliver on its promise to check the same. While official sources assert that New Delhi and Washington are not talking at variance, the view that the US can go only this far and no further with its pressure on Pakistan is gradually gaining ground.)

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--OIL SNUB TO US IN THE PIPELINE (Undoubtedly, Iran's geography and its internal stability make it the shortest, cheapest, safest and most reliable route for the Kazakhs who are currently heavily relying on Russia for their oil exports and who wish to increase them. No wonder the Kazakhs have expressed interest in a pipeline to Iran's Persian Gulf oil terminals...The rising European Union (EU) is finding its interests in conflict with those of the United States on a growing number of issues and in many regions. In search of political influence and economic gains, the EU has become inclined to challenge American views on certain matters, including ties with Iran.)

5//Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--SOLONS RESENT CORRUPTION TAG, SLAM US AMBASSADOR (...Philippine lawmakers assailed US Ambassador Frank Ricciardone and demanded an apology for his statement of widespread corruption in the country, particularly in the judiciary...Opposition Sen. Blas Ople said that while Ricciardone's remarks could be well meaning and arising from a genuine concern for the Philippines, the ambassador could not be given license to speak like a "two-cent radio commentator." ... But the party-list representative pointed out that Ricciardone's remark on constitutional barriers to foreign investment could be used to justify proposed moves to amend the 1987 Constitution.)

6//TheNewsmexico.com, Mexico--VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN COLOMBIA AS URIBE FACES CRITICISM OF SECURITY POLICY IN EUROPE (A number of governors and lawmakers on Monday urged President-elect Alvaro Uribe to enter talks with rebels, as Uribe, on a visit to Europe, sought to drum up support in London for his controversial proposals to stem violence in Colombia... The government admits there is no state presence in 200 of Colombia's 1098 municipalities. Some analysts, however, say the rebels have de facto control of up to 50 percent of the country.)

* * *

1//The Independent 16 July 2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=315456

BLAIR FACES COMMONS WATCHDOGS FOR FIRST TIME
By Jon Smith, Political Editor, PA News

Tony Blair today broke a long-standing convention that Prime Ministers refuse to appear before the MPs watchdog committees by facing questions from committee chairmen.

He appeared for two and a half hours before the Commons Liaison Committee and said he wanted to "do things differently" in Government after a first term dominated by allegations of spin and control-freakery.

He denied he had smuggled in a White House presidential-style of government, but admitted that ministers were too tempted during Labour's first administration to believe that "the announcement is the reality" rather than focusing on delivery.

Labour chairman of the Public Administration Committee, Tony Wright, asked whether his appearance was because his Government had the tag "spin" attached to it in the same way as the Tories had "sleaze" attached to them and he wanted to do things differently.

Mr Blair told the MPs - each of the 35 chairs of the Commons committees: "I think it is part of doing it differently, frankly.

(SNIP)

Challenged directly by Tory Sir George Young on whether he had introduced a presidential style of government, Mr Blair replied: "I truly believe not. I think that's unfair and wrong."

He has said he will appear before the committee twice in each parliamentary year. His next appearance is scheduled for January.

Chairman of the Liaison Committee, Labour MP Alan Williams, said: "The aim is to move away from the approach of Question Time in the House by having the opportunity to come back with repeat questions and not be confrontational."

(MORE)

2//The Asahi Shimbun July 14, 2002
http://www.asahi.com/english/op-ed/K2002071600428.html

EDITORIAL: CALMING INVESTOR JITTERS

U.S. needs strict measures to rebuild confidence.

Share prices tumbled across the board again in U.S. markets late last week as investors, deeply shaken by constant exposure of corporate accounting shenanigans, dumped their holdings with a vengeance.

(SNIP)

In an effort to reassure the markets, President George W. Bush went to Wall Street last week to deliver a speech stressing the importance of restoring investor confidence to keep the U.S. economy stable. Bush promised to create a new body to crack down on corporate misdeeds. But the markets responded to his words with no particular enthusiasm.

(SNIP)

But the Bush administration has been largely reluctant to directly confront the conflicting and contradictory interests, issues and perspectives involved. Among them is whether to establish an independent private entity with authority to discipline auditors and establish accounting standards and rules of ethics and a review of the stock option compensation system, which tends to make top corporate executives overeager to drive up the value of their companies' shares to reap huge personal gains.

Do Bush and his team have the nerve to clean up the mess even if they are soiled in the process? The market seems doubtful.

Attention is now focused upon whether Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were involved in some accounting malfeasance.

In 1990 Bush was on the board of directors of a company and sold his shares in it two months before the company reported a loss. The stock sale raised suspicions of insider trading. It has also been revealed that he got low-interest loans from the company to buy its stock. In the face of such revelations, the president's call for a ban on corporate loans to its own executives rings hollow.

Cheney is being sued by a group of citizens over his alleged involvement in fraudulent accounting practices at an energy company at which he was chief executive officer. He has also avoided questions about whether the administration's energy policy crafted under his leadership was influenced by Enron.

The credibility crisis extends to the SEC, which should be leading the way in efforts at investor protection. The Bush administration has nominated Harvey Pitt, a former Wall Street lawyer, to succeed Arthur Levitt as SEC chairman. Levitt had a reputation for his zeal to stamp out corporate fraud.

Before being named to head the SEC, Pitt was legal counsel to many corporate clients, including big accounting firms. His relationship with the accounting firm that audited Xerox Corp., which has admitted overstating profits, has raised some eyebrows. Many legislators see Pitt as the wrong man for the job under the present climate.

Investors wonder how long Bush will keep Pitt as the chief securities watchdog. He should address this question and present convincing information about his own questionable past business practices.

The flurry of accounting scandals has struck in the United States just as the flow of funds into the country is slowing because of concerns about its economic prospects, dragging down the dollar and stock prices.

To keep the slide in the U.S. currency and stock prices from bringing on an international financial crisis, the U.S. government needs to come up with effective measures to regain investor confidence.

3//The Pioneer New Delhi, Wednesday, July 17, 2002
http://www.dailypioneer.com/

US DRAWS ITS LoC ON PRESSURING PAKISTAN
Shobori Ganguli/New Delhi

The United States feels that infiltration across the Line of Control (LoC) is "down significantly." India, however, insists Pakistan is yet to deliver on its promise to check the same. While official sources assert that New Delhi and Washington are not talking at variance, the view that the US can go only this far and no further with its pressure on Pakistan is gradually gaining ground.

On Tuesday, US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said, "It is our view that the infiltration across the LoC is down significantly and we are continuing to look for ways to continue the momentum that the Pakistanis carry out the pledge to make that permanent and to eliminate camps and things like that."

Highly placed sources say the fine point the US seems to be missing here is the fact that whenever Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, for his own compulsions, has gone public to say he is giving no assurances and carries on with the "typical" Pakistani Kashmir policy, he provides encouragement to terror groups to continue with their shenanigans. Sources point to the telling coincidence between such speeches by the General and incidents of terrorist violence in India.

The latitude provided to Gen Musharraf by the Western powers on the cross-border terrorism issue, say sources, flows from their perception of the General being a "liberal" man. Admittedly, the US has vested interests in displaying leniency towards a man who has proved to be their strongest ally in the war against the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda. The economic and financial benefits reaped by Pakistan, since the war in Afghanistan last October, only point to the state of interdependence Pakistan and the US have reached of late.

The feeling in New Delhi clearly is that had the US wanted, it could have proved effective in pressuring Pakistan to put a comprehensive end to infiltration across the LoC. However, Pakistan's partnership in the US-led war against terror is preventing Washington from applying the kind of pressure on Islamabad New Delhi is likely to be satisfied with. The same reason informs the West's desire to see India overlook the deficits that are coming India's way in the shape of continued terrorist violence like the latest one in Qasim Nagar on Saturday. For New Delhi, this is becoming an increasingly unacceptable situation, compelling thought on the view that Washington must now be told in no uncertain terms how Gen Musharraf is only leading it up the garden path, that he is only being tactical, not serious.

Even as Jack Straw and Colin Powell come visiting the sub-continent in the next fortnight, New Delhi's restiveness with international recommendations of restraint and de-escalation are growing apparent. Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah told the Lok Sabha during a debate on the Jammu massacre on Tuesday that "For the first time, the Government, Parliament and the people have put their foot down and told the world community that if you can't stop cross-border infiltration, we will do it."

(SNIP)

While the US may choose not to turn the heat full and finally on Pakistan, the Indian leadership during the coming visits is expected to spell out clearly its assessment of the so-called "international pressure" on Pakistan. Already, on a day the US State Department said infiltration was "down significantly", MEA spokesperson Nirupama Rao, with a note of exasperation said, "We are looking for action on the ground which is permanent, visible and credible," adding, "We looked and looked and we don't see any evidence of that." For India, the spokesperson said, "The quest seems endless." This assessment would naturally be conveyed to the US and UK representatives.

4//Asia Times Online July 16, 2002
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/DG16Ag01.html

OIL SNUB TO US IN THE PIPELINE
By Hooman Peimani

(Dr Hooman Peimani works as an independent consultant with international organizations in Geneva and does research in international relations.)

In his late June meeting with Kazakh Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov in Astana, Iranian ambassador to Kazakhstan Morteza Safari announced his country's readiness to begin negotiations on a major oil pipeline project. It was a significant meeting in terms of global business and geopolitics.

The proposed project would provide a connection between oil-producing Kazakhstan and the Iranian Persian Gulf oil terminals (via Turkmenistan) through which Kazakh and also Turkmen oil could be exported to international markets. Iran and Kazakhstan have long been interested in the project, although it has remained on paper mainly because of American opposition. According to the Kazakh government, Total, a French oil company operating both in the Caspian region and in Iran, is planning to undertake a feasibility study on the proposed pipeline, in itself a positive sign of the project's feasibility.

Even though there is no certainty about its implementation in the near future, Kazakhstan's recent statement of interest and that of a major European oil company reflect an emerging realism both in the Caspian region and in Europe over the issue of exporting Caspian oil. The region's economic needs, its geographical realities and the European Union's growing political and economic rivalries with the United States seem to be whittling away at Kazakh and the European concerns over American objections to the involvement of Iran in Caspian oil exports. This trend, if it continues, will pave the way for the pipeline's construction.

(SNIP)

The Russian and the Iranian routes are both feasible and economically sensible, with the Iranian route being shorter and safer (as Iran, unlike Russia, suffers no Chechnya-style instability on the route). However, the American policy of excluding both countries from the Caspian oil industry has created severe obstacles to the use of these economically sensible routes, with Iran practically removed from consideration as an export route.

(SNIP)

Kazakhstan has the largest proven oil reserves of the Caspian region. As a result, it could potentially become the most prosperous regional country if it secured reliable long-term oil export routes. Undoubtedly, Iran's geography and its internal stability make it the shortest, cheapest, safest and most reliable route for the Kazakhs who are currently heavily relying on Russia for their oil exports and who wish to increase them. No wonder the Kazakhs have expressed interest in a pipeline to Iran's Persian Gulf oil terminals. Turkmenistan, a friendly country sandwiched between Kazakhstan and Iran, is also interested, as it would provide that country with its own export route through a neighboring country with which ties have been expanding steadily since independence.

Iran, Russia and Turkey have been competing to establish themselves as the main export routes for their obvious economic and political benefits. Without any exception, all oil companies operating in Kazakhstan, including the American ones, are interested in using the Iranian route for its mentioned characteristics. Yet the American ban on cooperation with Iran for American companies and the threat of sanctions have resulted in a limited amount of oil exports via Iran through swap deals. Thus Iran receives Kazakh oil at its Caspian oil terminal for its northern refineries and deliver to designated buyers the equivalent amount of oil at its Persian Gulf terminals. Swap deals could expand several-fold, but a pipeline would still be more reliable, as well as a future necessity for Kazakhstan. That pipeline would be used in addition to the existing operational Russian pipelines connecting it to the Black Sea to ensure Russian friendship and for export to Eastern Europe.

Iran and Kazakhstan signed an agreement for the construction of the Kazakhstan-Persian Gulf pipeline in the 1990s, but it has not been implemented due to lack of investors. Nevertheless, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazerbayev has reiterated his country's view of Iran as a "promising" export route over the last few months, including in last April during US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to the country.

The Americans are still against the project, but a reliable export route is becoming increasingly vital for Kazakhstan as it needs to decrease its reliance on Russia for political and economic reasons and to create export capabilities for its growing oil exports. Despite American opposition, certain developments are contributing to a more suitable situation for the implementation of the pipeline project. The rising European Union (EU) is finding its interests in conflict with those of the United States on a growing number of issues and in many regions. In search of political influence and economic gains, the EU has become inclined to challenge American views on certain matters, including ties with Iran.

Consequently, the EU opted to expand political and economic ties with that country during its June foreign minister meeting in Luxembourg without regard to American opposition. Against this background, the decision of Total to conduct a feasibility study (if it happens, and if it receives full EU backing), will likely lead to the implementation of the pipeline project given the strong interest of Iran and Kazakhstan.

5//Philippine Daily Inquirer Posted: 0:02 AM (Manila Time) | Jul. 17, 2002
http://www.inq7.net/nat/2002/jul/17/nat_2-1.htm

SOLONS RESENT CORRUPTION TAG, SLAM US AMBASSADOR
By Juliet L. Javellana and Cynthia D. Balana
Inquirer News Service

Discourteous remarks

HACKLES raised, Philippine lawmakers assailed US Ambassador Frank Ricciardone and demanded an apology for his statement of widespread corruption in the country, particularly in the judiciary.

"Can (Philippine) Ambassador (Albert) del Rosario talk like that in Washington?" said Negros Occidental Rep. Jun Lozada, chair of the House foreign relations committee and vice chair for foreign relations of the ruling Lakas.

Lozada said the US government should issue a public apology to President Macapagal-Arroyo and to the Filipino people, although he added that "no amount of apology can undo the damage."

Opposition Sen. Blas Ople said that while Ricciardone's remarks could be well meaning and arising from a genuine concern for the Philippines, the ambassador could not be given license to speak like a "two-cent radio commentator."

He said that at the very least, Ricciardone's remarks were discourteous to the President, who had aligned her foreign policy to cooperate fully in the US-led global coalition against international terrorism.

(SNIP)

Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo took the ambassador's statement as Washington's "signal to the (Philippine) government to deal with corruption.''

But the party-list representative pointed out that Ricciardone's remark on constitutional barriers to foreign investment could be used to justify proposed moves to amend the 1987 Constitution.

"What he said was an indirect pressure for proponents of charter change to include economic provisions," Ocampo said, adding that progressive groups would beef up their resistance to the plan.

6//TheNewsmexico.com 7/16/2002
http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=30472

VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN COLOMBIA AS URIBE FACES CRITICISM OF SECURITY POLICY
IN EUROPE

BOGOTA - AFP - A number of governors and lawmakers on Monday urged President-elect Alvaro Uribe to enter talks with rebels, as Uribe, on a visit to Europe, sought to drum up support in London for his controversial proposals to stem violence in Colombia.

"We believe that peace dialogue is the solution for this problem," said Alfonso Jaramillo, the governor of Tolima province and a spokesman for local officials in other troubled areas of Colombia, urging Uribe to talk with leftist rebels the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Uribe, who will succeed incumbent President Andres Pastrana August 7, was in London, meanwhile, at the start of his second visit to Europe in just two weeks. He was due to meet for talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other senior officials, before traveling to Italy.

Uribe's proposals to crack down on Colombia's rebel groups won him a landslide election victory on May 26. But his plans to double the size of the armed forces, grant them sweeping new powers and form a million-strong civilian militia, have attracted criticism both at home and abroad.

Amnesty International published a letter last Friday asking Blair to push Uribe for a rethink of his plans, notably in his intention to draw civilians more into Colombia's internal conflict.

(SNIP)

On his first foreign trip as president-elect earlier this month, Uribe met political leaders in the United States, France, Spain, Ecuador and Peru and called for increased military aid to help combat Colombia's left and rightwing rebels and the narcotics trade from which they fund their insurgencies.

The second leg of his diplomatic offensive comes as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's most powerful rebel group, stepped up its attacks aimed at driving state troops out of broad swathes of the country.

Since Uribe's election, the FARC, upset at his hardline plans, has pressed local officials to resign under threat of death. As many as 220 mayors in recent weeks have heeded the FARC's threats, leaving the rebels as the only authority in many isolated regions.

The government admits there is no state presence in 200 of Colombia's 1098 municipalities. Some analysts, however, say the rebels have de facto control of up to 50 percent of the country.

(MORE)

* * *

© 2002, Gloria R. Lalumia
insight@zianet.com

More at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical

* * *